The Savannah tribune. [volume] (Savannah [Ga.]) 1876-1960, 1887-07-16
KILLED FOR THEIR COATS
a PROFESSIONAL TRAPPER TALKS
ABOUT his BUSINESS.
skrats and Their SIxins-A Coon
Trap-Catching the Willy Fox
Cats and Birds


other WIS a squirrel, shot in Boone Co.,
Ky. There Is no money in squirrel skins,
ofconrse, and you might think there is
snoDe In the much uglier muskpat; but it
Is big week for me when / can find a
muskrat village. / cleaned out one early
asst winter, and got seyenty-nine pelts
from u, at twenty cents apelt
How did kill the muskrats2
drowned them"
He took three long, fierce pulls at his
pipe, IN order to give the idea of drown
ing the aquatic muskrat its due promi-
hence. The illiteratc arc ever children,
and the talkcr had all child's delight in
puzzling che listeners with an apparent
impossibility His name is John Blue
baker. His home is a shanty- boat-a
rude cabin, built upon batteau bottom
lin which, with wife and three chill
dren, he lives upon the Ohio and Missis-
sippl Rivers, sometimes going as far
north as Pittsburg; sometimes drifting
with the current to New Orleans.
Last winter Mr. Bluebaker made his
way up the Kentucky River TO a point
about midway between its mouth and
Frankfort, where he drew his boat as
Tar up the course Of q creek az possible,
5eached it, banked it up, and settled
down to four months of wild life
shooting and trapping the little people
of the forest for their coats.
few days ago he disposed of his
winters take to manufacturing furrer,
whose busy season has just set in, for a
sum of sixty-three dollars
Eyes, sir, I drowned them Ever see
o muskrat yillagel Mop Well, Just inn
agine lot-sometimes six, sometimes
twenty-of big black Derby hats, about
fifty times as big as the one you are
wearing, set down, crown up in a marsh,
with Che rims, of course, out of sight,
and you will have a pretty clear idea of
one. 1t is beaver village, exactly, on
a small scale. The entrances are all
under water, and half dozen muskrats
will live in one hut When the surface
of the water in the swamp is frozen over,
by pounding upon the outside Of the
hut the muskrats are frightened out of
the house; they can be seen through
the clear ice swimming toward
their breathing places. Now is
your time. You want to follow one
of these swimmers, and when he
stops to take air. send him along under
the ice again, and before he has gone
forty yards he will press up close against
the ice, and stop swimming drowned.
You cut the ice away from above him,
and he rs yours. 1t takes about ten
minutes to RIP the skin off muskrat, to
rub the inside with salt, which is all the
curing required, and to store it away
ready for the dealer They bring from
thirty to fifteen cents apiece and are
more plentiful than people imagine. But
there are not so many of them down in
Owen County just now as there are
coons. Owen is filling up with people,
and somehow wherever you find the
farmers pretty thick you will find the
Coons thick, also. They keep quiet dur
ing the day. and unless man knows
where TO look for them no may be in the
heart of good coon country and never see
one of the beasts from one years end to
another
THE best coon trap that ever used in
these woods is hollow log, placed near
coon-run on a creek. A piece of fresh
ly-killed rabbit meat rammed into the
log will do for bait, and snare at each
end of the log will take care that the
coon neither gets the bait nor gets away
His skin is worth from ST. % to twenty
y cents each in the rough and the only
preparation it needs after being taken off
Che carcass is few days stretching.
but fine fox-there you have a beast
that is as hard to trap as it is to catch
weasel asleep. Igave up trapping them
two years ago, and all the fox skins sell
saiaw are more or less riddled with shot.
! Just to give you an idea of the foxs
Keen scent, let me tell you that in setting
steel trap for them you must never
handle the trap with bare hands; always
wear gloves He can scent your hand on
the steel twenty -four hours after the trap
isset As l told you before, the pelt Of
the silver fox is the most valuable skin in
this country prices ranging from 800
down 10 50; then comes the blue fox at
about $40 and after that the otter, the
marten, the seal and the brown bear, at
about $40 each OF course don't deal
IN these furs, but / know something
about them all the same. The black bear
better comes in ahead of the blue fox,
maybe, at about the same price, or little
higher
s'AIy game is the skunk at from dollar
down to twenty cents; now and then a
wildcat at half dollar, and the others
that have already spoken Of When
am near city shoot and snare all the
house cats that come near me, and get
about ten cents apiece for them. But the
prettiest skins in the whole business are
bird skins. Anybody can take the
skin OIL bird by first making a straight
cut down its breast hona from, tho nerk